Maha: Aurangabad deputy mayor resigns over water scheme stay

The BJP's deputy mayor in the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation on Monday handed over his resignation from the post to the civic body's mayor, who is from the Shiv Sena.

Deputy mayor Vijay Autade had on Friday said he was resigning as former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had sanctioned a much-needed water supply scheme worth Rs 1,680 crore for Aurangabad, but it was stopped after the Congress- NCP-Shiv Sena government under Uddhav Thackeray took over last month.

Aurangabad BJP president Kishanchand Tanwani confirmed the development and said Autade handed over his resignation to Mayor Nandkumar Ghodele.

Ghodele could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.

Earlier, 31 corporators comprising 23 from the BJP, two co-opted members and six out of the 17 Independents in the civic house had submitted their resignations to Tanwani on Saturday.

The two saffron parties had fought the 2015 Aurangabad civic polls together in 2015.

In the 115-member civic house, the Sena is the largest party with 29 seats, followed by the AIMIM with 24, BJP with 23, 17 Independents, 11 from the Congress, five from BSP, four from NCP and two of RPI(D).